Broken Key and Broken Heart
by an-upset-librarian
Summary: Lucy is confronted by Natsu after capturing Brandish (let's pretend ok) and he eventually sees Aquarius's broken key... Just angst and closure for these two. One-shot rated to be safe


**Quick angsty one-shot where Lucy is confronted by Natsu after capturing Brandish (let's pretend he was there okay) and it's revealed about Aquarius's key**

 *****I don't own Fairy Tail*****

Lucy and Cana had carried Brandish to the guild, where the Master ordered them to lock her up and to be kept under a watchful eye. Lucy, wanting to find her friends and go back out to actually fight, left Macao and Wakaba to watch the unconscious enemy- despite their leering expressions. She walked back up to the main hall of the guild where most of the mages were, and retreated to a dark corner to think.

"Hey Luce! Good to see you've made it so far!" Natsu's voice said from behind the celestial mage. Lucy turned and saw her old partner standing behind her with a wide grin.

"I just brought Erza here so she can rest." Natsu explained. Lucy nodded. Her fist tightened even more, if it was even possible. She felt the bite of the broken end of Aquarius's key biting into her palm, and she welcomed the familiar pain. She hadn't let go of the remnants of the key since her "fight" with Brandish, and she wasn't going to anytime soon. Her mother…what connection did she have with one of the Spriggan Twelve?

"…even listening?" Natsu's voice echoed, bringing Lucy out of her internal daze. She blinked and looked back up at him and felt her lips part in an apologetic smile.

"Sorry. Just a lot on my mind." Lucy said softly. The gears in her mind were still turning to try and figure out how and why her mother was involved in all this.

"Yea, this fight's already been hard. I can't wait to fight Zeref." Natsu said, except something in his voice told Lucy that his bloodthirsty claim was more of a declaration of what he would do, not something he was thinking about doing.

"Good thing we have the guild with us, and Sabertooth and Blue Pegasus and the others. I can't imagine what we would do without their help." Lucy said with a heavy sigh.

"We would still beat them of course! That's what we do! We're partners, after all." Natsu chirped. Lucy flinched at his words. Partners. It had been over a year since she heard him say that. A lonely year without Natsu or the guild. She could handle losing one, if she had the other. But not both at the same time, it was too much. She tried to conceal the hurt she was feeling inside, but Natsu had seen it. She smiled up at him, and said, "Yea. Partners."

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, stepping closer to his partner.

"I'm fine Natsu." She said. His eyes searched hers, for what she couldn't tell. She pushed the hair that had fallen out of her ponytail out of her face with her free hand nervously. Natsu's eyes flitted to her clenched fist, and his expression tightened.

"Lucy, why do I smell your blood?" He muttered darkly. His expression was unreadable, but Lucy knew she wasn't going to get out of this one.

"I must have cut myself in my 'fight' with Brandish." She lied smoothly. She didn't want Natsu to know about Aquarius. She still wasn't ready for him to know. Lucy had put on a mask of her old, happy-go-lucky self when Natsu came back, but sometimes that mask fell for a few moments, allowing the dragon slayer a glimpse into her true emotional state. Luckily, she had been able to come up with suitable excuses whenever he actually asked about her depressive swings, like that she missed the guild or that she was anxious about the fight and finding their guildmates. He had believed her, or so she thought.

"I know you think I haven't noticed, but I have. How could I not? I know I'm a little on the denser side, and I'm not good with all this touchy-feely crap, but you can talk to me. I know it wasn't easy on you to be alone again. But I didn't know about the guild and I'm sorry I left you all alone." Natsu said, his apologetic eyes pleading with hers for forgiveness. He reached out and grabbed her fisted hand and held it between his palms. Lucy sniffled and blinked back tears. He thought she was blaming him for leaving. At first, she did. Those first few months where she was alone all over again made her search for someone to blame, and that someone had been Natsu. But after a while she didn't blame him, and understood that he had his reasons, but that didn't make the loneliness any easier. Then he had burst back into her life in a blaze of fire, and she felt that anger return. But she had seen his pain after Tartaros, and he tried to explain and apologize when he learned about the guild being disbanded, and she had forgiven him.

"Natsu, I don't blame you. I forgive you for leaving, although I don't think you should even feel sorry in the first place. It's just that Brandish knew my mom, and she said-she said some things." Lucy whispered. She leaned into Natsu's warmth and their foreheads were only inches from touching. She felt his hot breath on her face and closed her eyes. She had missed his warmth. She let herself be close to him again, but then she forced herself to take a step back.

"But I'm fine. Really." Lucy repeated with the same smile. She could feel part of her breaking at the hurt and confusion on her partners face. She knew that he had to beat Zeref with his mysterious magic before he could focus on anything else. She could see how tense and on edge he was, as if he was about to take Happy and go flying after Zeref to fight him alone like the idiot he was. Yet, Lucy knew she couldn't focus on him or any of her friends until she learned about her mother, and until she could look at Aquarius's key without feeling her heart break all over again and seeing the once beautiful key break again. Lucy recalled how for weeks after Tartaros she hadn't summoned a spirit. Not one. She couldn't without feeling the same soul crushing agony of losing one of them, and she vowed that she would grow strong enough to never have to lose one of her precious friends ever again. Celestial or human. So she trained relentlessly to harness the power of the Star Dresses. It had been hard, and sometimes she felt like she couldn't move or feel her own body, but Lucy kept going. For Aquarius. For Igneel. For all the dragons. For the guild. For Natsu.

She tried to pull her fist out of Natsu's grasp, but his hands only tightened around hers.

"Natsu, let me go! There's still a war going on." Lucy exclaimed.

"No. Not until you tell me why I can smell your blood." Natsu stated. Lucy felt her mouth drop open in shock, and she quickly closed it.

"I told you. I must have gotten a cut when I was running from Brandish." Lucy said stiffly.

"Luce, I can hear you're heartbeat. I know you're lying to me." Natsu said, hurt clear in his voice. Lucy turned away from the dragon slayer's piercing stare and weakly pulled against him.

"Please, Natsu." She murmured, her voice cracking.

"What can't you tell me?" He whispered, pulling her back into his warmth. Lucy sighed and leaned her head against his chest. The couple stood practically in each other's arms for a few moments. Lucy lifted her head and gazed up at her partner's dark eyes.

"You asked." She said, her expression turning cold. She opened her fist, and Natsu pulled the hand resting on top of hers away. She felt him freeze, and heard his breath catch. She refused to look down at the familiar key in her hand, knowing every scratch and crack on it's surface all too well.

"What happened?" Natsu said, his voice hoarse. Lucy's jaw clenched, and she looked over at the wall next to her.

"We were fighting Tartaros, and everyone was stuck in that, that _goop._ I was the only one left, and I was fighting three of the Twelve Demons of Tartaros. I was out of magic, and you were- _all_ of you were dying." Lucy started. She felt Natsu's hot stare, but continued to ignore it.

"Aquarius was holding them back for the moment, but I was too weak. I had summoned so many spirits at once, and I could barely stand. That's when Aquarius told me-she told-she told me about a way to summon the Celestial Spirit King. But it came at a cost." Lucy's voice cracked again at the last word. She hadn't spoken any of her experience out loud, and didn't know if she could.

"I had to sacrifice a key, a golden key, to summon him. The very thought sickened me. I couldn't _break_ one of my friend's keys like that. I couldn't do it. But I was too weak, and the enemy was too strong and my friends were _dying._ Aquarius told me to use her k-key. A-and I did. I held her key in my hand and I-I summoned the king. Her-her k-key _shattered_ and I c-couldn't, I couldn't-" Lucy broke off. Her eyes were filled with tears, and one escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek. She sniffled and looked back at Natsu. He looked horrified, and she thought she saw the glimmer of tears in his eyes.

"So I sacrificed my oldest friend, my mother's spirit to save the guild and it worked. I was too weak to protect anybody and Aquarius had to pay for it." Lucy concluded. She tore her hand away from Natsu and tucked the key into her pocket. She wiped the tears that had escaped from her face and looked at her friend to see how he would react. Natsu was frozen for a moment, his arm still outstretched as if he were still holding her hand.

"Natsu?" Lucy said hesitantly. She squeaked when he suddenly lunged at her and pulled her into his embrace. She felt his head buried in her hair and his strong arms tightening his hold on her.

"I'm so _sorry_ Lucy. If I had been there maybe-" Natsu whispered hoarsely. Lucy felt her tears start to fall again, and she wrapped her arms around her partner. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and smelled his familiar fiery scent. Her eyes closed and she felt some of the cracks in her heart heal. They held each other for a long time, just relishing in their shared warmth. Natsu's hand rubbed Lucy's back soothingly. She sighed in contentment, and felt Natsu do the same. She was the first to pull away, but she didn't step out of his arms.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"You don't need to apologize." He replied. Lucy smiled, and it was genuine this time, up at her partner.

"Thank you, Natsu." She said. He just gave her a cheeky smile and brought her injured hand up to his lips. He kissed the scratches in her palm, his dark eyes holding onto her brown ones.

"I'll make sure to protect you this time, Luce. I promised to protect your future." He swore. Lucy smiled, her cheeks pink. His lips were warm and softer than she expected. He still held her hand up to his face so that his lips brushed against her palm as he talked.

"Then let's protect it together." She said, closing her fingers around his.


End file.
